Beautiful Darkness
by EssTheDreamer
Summary: "Fate is like a game. Move players around, and you completely change the game." Hermione Granger never received her Hogwarts letter, and Draco Malfoy went to Durmstrang before transferring to Hogwarts. How will this game play out? (((please read AN's starting Chapter One for important information)))
1. Prologue

**Beautiful Darkness by _EssTheDreamer_**

* * *

 *****Prologue*****

* * *

It starts the day that they collide, twin tornadoes in a grey world.

Her with five books layered in her hands, him with a skull-and-serpent mark on his arm.

Her with anger and pulsing magic in her hair, him with frustration and a storm in his eyes.

Her books ( _Is Magic Real?, Telekinesis, Elemental Control, Are You Normal?, and the Pureblood Directory)_ all tumbled to the wet ground, and his wand, brown and tipped with cool iron, fell to the ground, as well.

He picked up the Pureblood Directory, and she picked up his wand, her fingers catching a shock from the hawthorn wood.

"Why do you have this?" asked both, at the same time.

He was surprised to see a muggle (well, he assumed she was), and she was surprised to see a human with one of those fabled wands that she read about in the old abandoned library.

"I was curious," replied the girl.

"It's mine," replied the boy.

The boy reaches for his wand, but the girl, thinking he's about to hurt her, holds out the wand, and slashes the air with it, sending a burst of blue towards the boy.

When the jet of blue hit him, he collapsed on the ground.

The girl, not knowing what to do, picks up her books, and places it in her bag (which she really should've done earlier), and grabs the boy and holds him upright, walking him to her house, thanking the gods above that her house is nearby.

Its the beginning of something different, and the foray into a new world.

But they don't know that.

 _Yet._


	2. Chapter One

**Beautiful Darkness by _EssTheDreamer_**

* * *

 *****Chapter One*****

 _The Decision_

* * *

Draco Malfoy awakes in a silver and green room, and briefly wonders if he's back at the Manor, even though he went out to walk to refresh himself.

And then it all comes crashing down - he collided with a muggle girl, and … she _stupefied_ him?

" _But she's a muggle? How did she use my wand properly then?"_ thought Draco.

He blinks once, twice, and decides that sitting around in a room that could be owned by potentially psychotic muggles is not a good decision, no not at all.

Just as he swings one leg off of the bed, the door opens, and walks in one girl with voluminous curly hair. She's wearing muggle jeans and a loose, bright yellow top with the word "MAGICAL" written on it, and Draco wonders if she _is_ magical, or if he imagined everything and just somehow wound up in some girl's bed.

"I'm Hermione Granger," says the girl, jostling Draco out of his thoughts. Just then, he wonders if she's related to the Dagworth-Grangers, but why would a Dagworth-Granger live in the muggle world? They were famous potioneers, and they mysteriously disappeared when their only daughter and heir, Emma Dagworth-Granger, vanished.

Draco nods, and doesn't bother to say his name, until the girl-Hermione-looks at him, waiting for an answer. Deciding that he could always _obliviate_ her, he enlightens her. "I'm Draco Malfoy. Can I please have my … thing back?" He doesn't know whether or not to say wand, so he just says "thing".

The girl's lips curve into a smile, and she pulls out his wand from her jean's pocket. Draco reaches for it, but the girl puts it back in her pocket.

Draco sighs, exasperated. He really needs to get his wand back, get the hell out of here, and explain to the Dark Lord and his parents where and why he's been out so long.

"Look, I don't know who you are, and I really need to get back, so can I please get the stick back, and I'll leave you alone."

"Not so fast," says Hermione. "You can call it a "wand," you know. You don't need synonyms to replace it," she says, this time, her smile replaced with a small smirk.

"Fine, give me back my wand … I _really_ need it," says Draco.

"I'll give it back … eventually. I just … need to get some answers."

Draco furrows his brows. If the questions cause him to reveal the wizarding world, the Ministry may find out and arrest him, and Malfoy Manor really doesn't need anymore attention, not with Lord Voldemort inside it. But … after he gets his wand back, he could _obliviate_ her. Finding a suitable plan, he nods his head and waits for the girl to start talking.

Hermione looks at him, suspicion evident in her eyes, but she moves to the bed. She crouches, and opens a drawer, a drawer that blends in perfectly to the bed, and pulls out a giant red book with an ornate _H_ inscribed on it.

"This book … Hogwarts: A History, references _magic_ , and wizarding school. How do you gain entrance to it?"

Draco snorts. Of course, she was just another muggle who wanted to go on a fantasy adventure. How she wound up with the book, Draco doesn't know, but he knows his obliviating job is going to a bit harder now that he knows she has knowledge of the wizarding world.

"Yes. Hogwarts is one of the many schools dedicated to teaching students on magic and their abilities. I personally, go to Durmstrang, though I'll be transferring to Hogwarts next year. But, you can't go unless you have magical ability."

"I _do_ have magic! I have it, and I can show you," says Hermione, her tone angry and ready to prove her powers.

Draco is yet again placed in a road where his decision could impact everything else. Finally making a decision, he asks her. "You don't have to show me...I can see it myself, if you'll let me," he says to her.

She looks pensive, and bites the edge of her lip, as if she doesn't know whether or not to trust this strange stranger. Finally, she nods her head, and Draco reaches out to her chin and tilts her head up so that his silver eyes can make contact with her golden ones.

All of a sudden, an onslaught of memories attacks him.

* * *

 _A tiny girl with bushy brown hair walk into a class full of other tiny kids. She sees a cluster of kids playing with dolls, and she asks to join. One of the kids shakes her head and pushed Hermione down to the ground._

 _Hermione's eyes fill with tears, and as she bursts into tears, the dolls' heads pop off._

* * *

 _A girl a bit older walks into a school labeled "_ K.J Lowring Middle School" _, and again is lonely and without friends._

 _She sits alone in the library, and all of a sudden, she makes her books float. She is surprised, but she tests her abilities and notices that she can make all the books around her float in midair, as well as the fact that she can make their pages flip without even touching them._

 _The library is empty, and no one notices her, especially not the reading librarian._

* * *

 _In a different scene, she is surrounded in a circle with kids pointing at her; she had a yellow-post it with the word "FREAK" scribbled on it, and tears once again flood her eyes._

 _All of a sudden, the child responsible for the note gets a horrid nosebleed, and when they try to stop it with their hand, more blood pours out from all the places that their skin made contact with skin._

 _The children look at Hermione fearfully, and they leave her alone, calling for the teacher._

 _Hermione looks shocked yet again, but then, she mumbles, "_ They deserve it."

* * *

 _Hermione is in a different scene now, and looks closer to the age that she is now. She is in what seems to be a muggle locker room, and she is packing up her bag, when a trio of girls comes in to her aisle of lockers._

" _Granger, the witch. Can't you see that you don't belong here? I sure wish they still did those witch burnings, then we could burn you right here."_

" _Go away, Kaitlin. I never did anything to bother you," says Hermione, staring the bully head on._

 _The bully cocks her head and plasters a fake smile on her face, before taking a step forward, and smacks Hermione straight across the face, sending her curls flying._

" _Don't talk back to me, witch." This time, there seems to be no shock in Hermione's expression, but pure anger as a red hand print shows up on her skin._

 _She stands up slowly, and slings her bag across her shoulder._

 _The bully, Kaitlin, stands tall and proud of slapping Hermione, and thinks Hermione admitted defeat as she walks away. Kaitlin goes to the other girls starts to gloat to the other girls in the locker room about how she "put the Granger witch, the teacher's pet, in her place by slapping her," and Hermione feels her anger escalating like it never did before. Especially when Kaitlin brings up the fact that she is raised by a single mother, saying that her father probably left because she was too freaky and the only reason her mother stayed behind only because she felt sorry for her._

 _Hermione **explodes**. She sends Kaitlin flying into the wall and shatters all the mirrors in the locker room._

" _Insult me all you want, but don't you_ dare _hurt me or talk bad about my mother. Just because you're all pampered arseholes doesn't mean I am, too."_

 _With that, Hermione leaves the locker room, and makes sure to use her powers to mark all of the girls in scarlet ink, proclaiming them as "FREAKS,"just like they once did with her._

 _It's not perfect revenge for all they did to her, but it's getting there._

* * *

 _A week or so later, Hermione's locker is bombarded with comments about how she doesn't belong, how she's not human, and other hateful comments that are too horrible to even be repeated._

 _She's tripped over during lunch, food is thrown at her, during dodgeball, she is viciously attacked, and she can frequently find herself attacked with spit balls. The teachers seem to notice, but they don't act, either not caring, or to scared to attack kids with rich parents that donate to the school._

 _Hermione sanctuary is an old-abandoned library, labeled "Magyck Librarium". This is where she practices her magic, finding spells into old books, and where she also found Hogwarts:A History and discovered there were more people like her. She wishes she knew where Diagon Alley was located so that she could run away from it all._

 _The final memory is of her finding a crate of books labeled "DARK MAGIC: DO NOT TOUCH!"_

 _She decides that she will learn them next time; she wants to be strong, and she wants to protect herself._

 _Most of all, she wants to burn those who harmed her._

* * *

When Draco pulls out from her thoughts, he makes yet another life changing decision. He can't let this girl, this powerful, _amazing_ , girl with _so_ much magical potential stick it out in this despicable muggle world where she would be tormented on a daily basis. Sure, there may be some nice ones out there, but he couldn't let a fellow magical being have to survive alone, tormented like the times where witches were burned, but this time with words and actions.

He brings his hand down from her chin and sticks it out to her. "Do you want to learn magic? I can show you."

Hermione is shocked, the emotion is all but hidden in her golden eyes, and she stutters "I don't - I couldn't possibly - I don't want to bother you - But I - No, I - Yes, I - I -"

"It's a simple question with a simple answer," interrupts Draco. " _Hermione,_ listen, this could make you stronger, I know how to help you, and if you get good enough … then you can come to Hogwart's with me," he adds, putting extra emphasis on her name.

Hermione looks up at Draco's eyes from the ground, and she makes _her_ life changing decision. "Yes. Yes, I'll learn, and yes, I'll see everything, _anything_ you need to show me. To make me stronger, better. _Yes_ ," she says, taking Draco's outstretched hand.

He smiles at her, and then, raising one eyebrow, he asks, "My wand?"

Hermione smiles sheepishly, and pulls it out and places it in his palm.

"We can get you a wand, say, next time we meet?" Draco says it nonchalantly, but he is worried that this powerful girl would back out.

Hermione's radiating smile in response calms him, and he says "Au revoir, mademoiselle. I'll see you soon," before disapparating with a _pop._

Hermione doesn't know how he'll find her, but she already trusts him enough to know that he'll keep his promises. If she ever wondered how it's possible to trust a complete stranger, she now knows that it is indeed possible, especially a stranger that saves you from a horrible existence.

 _One day, I'll show them just how powerful I am. One day._

* * *

 _Twin souls meet_

 _they collide_

 _and dance around each other_

 _but they soon merge together_

 _into a powerful force_

 _helping and guiding_

 _each other into_

 _greatness_

 _and_

 _power_

* * *

 **AN:** Whoo hoo, my first Dramione multi-chapter story!

Super excited about this, and I'll tell you all how I got the idea for this. I was yet again defending Dramione (it's a pastime of mine, now) and a friend said that if Hermione didn't get into magic like she did, and Draco met her later when he was more mature, maybe Dramione would be a possibility. I believe that Dramione is possible _anywhere,_ but my brain stewed over what she said, and this fanfiction was born, and I've combined a few of my plot bunnies into here.

Follow this story if you want to see Hermione's adventure into a powerful witch, and Draco's into a wizard to be reckoned with. I'm not sure if I want Hermione to go full on dark on this, but we'll see. Updates will come whenever I finish a new chapter, and will be fairly frequent until the 3rd of January (2016!), and when school starts, it will be updated, but not as frequently.

Oh, and I hope you all like the cover, I made it myself, it's my first cover, and I plan to do this to all of my fics from now on rather than just using a generic image from Google, lol.

Bye, and see you all next chapter, (expect long author's notes 99% of the time, sorry)

 _Ess_

 **Edit:** Someone sent me a tumblr aesthetic about muggle Hermione and a helpful Draco, like the idea of never receiving a Hogwarts letter. So, if it sounds familiar, I guess that's why, but I honestly didn't see it till I got it sent to me. Anyway, I hope everyone likes this story, and I can't wait to explore the rest of the story with you all!

 **Edit #2:** Colubrina, an amazing writer for HP here, also wrote a story, its called "Without Her Letter", on Hermione never receiving her letter. Now, I posted this before WHL, so I hope no one suggests I copied. I recommend you all check it out as well, its a three-parter, and its an amazing story, much like the writer! :D

 **Edit #3:** Well, I found this amazing image on this Dramione page, and I decided to update the cover using an edited version of it, so the edit of the cover, meaning the background of it, is NOT mine. I did edit it to make it my cover, but the base image is _not_ mine. By the way, I obviously do not own Harry Potter, I forgot to mention this, haha.

* * *

 _ **Review are Hermione's dreams, Follow's are Draco's help, and Favorites are their combined thanks.**_

 _ **(lol, haha, I don't know why I did this)**_


	3. Chapter Two

**Beautiful Darkness by _EssTheDreamer_**

* * *

 *****Chapter Two*****

 _ **Exploring Diagon Alley**_

* * *

Hermione had been walking along the path that she'd been on the day she had first met Draco. It had been 2 days since that fateful meeting, and she was waiting for him to come back. She wondered if being a wizard was a hard job, or if he just forgot. She hoped that he didn't, for Hermione finally had a sliver of hope that there was someone just like her, someone who wouldn't call her out for being a freak.

Mostly, she hoped it wasn't a prank, another one that the bullies pulled on her, like the time they made her believe they were her friends, only to bully her a few days later.

Just as she was going to head home, she knocked into another figure that just _popped_ out of nowhere.

"We've really got to stop meeting like this," said Draco, catching Hermione from tumbling to the ground, which was drier than it was the last time they had met.

"You've really got to stop appearing out of nowhere like that," replied Hermione as she righted herself. "What if I wasn't here, but someone else was? How would you explain yourself?"

"Relax. I would just get rid of their memories with a simple obliviate spell, so no problem."

Just then, a thought occurred to Hermione as he said that. What if Draco came back only to get rid of her memories?

As if reading Hermione's thoughts, he said, "Don't worry, I promise I won't do that to you."

"Well, should we … get going, possibly?" she said, twisting a lock of hair around her finger and biting her lip, one of her many nervous habits.

"Right. Ok, so you see … you should grab onto my hand, we're going to do side-along Apparition, which is basically teleportation to you. I'll teach it to you, one day, just … let's get you a wand first. But, first … we may need to disguise you for a bit, just in case. Do you mind?"

Hermione shook her head, and Draco waved his wand over Hermione. The glamour felt like a cool shadow over her, and when she looked at her hand, gone was her peachy skin, and replaced with skin as dark as midnight, without a single ink blotch like Hermione's own hands had. She liked the color and the flawlessness, but she felt more like herself as _Hermione,_ not … whoever this was meant to be.

"Um, do I look okay?" questioned Hermione

"No, you look like a hippogriff," joked Draco, to which Hermione swatted him with her hand, even though she had no idea what in the stars a hippogriff was.

"Do you _have_ to glamour me?"

"No, if you want me to look crazy in front of everyone, talking to the air."

"It would be hilarious to see, probably, but you're right," amended Hermione. "Should we … go, now?"

Once again, Draco stuck his hand out to Hermione, and once again, she took Draco's hand, and closed her eyes.

* * *

" _Why_ does it feel so horrid to travel like that?" said Hermione, feeling a bit queasy, and still holding Draco's hand, she put her hand up to her forehead.

"It always feels like that, for the first time. You'll get used to most of the sensations, though, so … don't worry too much," said Draco. He took a look at their joined hands, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he said, "Do you want some food to calm your stomach? It helped me when I first apparated"

"It should help, thank you. But. I … uh, don't have any wizarding money," said Hermione. She noticed their hands, clasped together, and blushing, she gingerly removed her hand.

Draco smirked at the blushing Hermione, and replied, "Don't worry, it's all on me."

Hermione shook her head. "No, it's okay, really! Is there some sort of an exchange program around here? I'm sure I'm not the only one with regular money needing to convert it into wizarding money," looking around the bustling shops in Diagon Alley.

Draco grabbed on to her arm to stop her movements. "Think of it as a welcoming gift into the wizarding world. Everything today, is on me."

"I couldn't possibly -"

"Hermione, it's okay. If you don't accept the gift, I won't show you how to get wizarding money from muggle money, either, and you'll need to depend on me forever."

"Fine, I get it. What does muggle stand for?"

"Uh, it stands for non-magical beings, or just someone without any idea of the magical world or any powers. Up until I found out who you really were, you were a muggle, " he said while dragging her into Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor.

" I didn't think wizards would have ice-cream," said Hermione, eyeing the place. It was true, some of the things she read about in "Hogwarts: A History" were almost all older things, like quills instead of pens.

Snorting at the comment, Draco pulled her over to one of the booths and sat her down. "Do you want anything in particular?" Hermione shook her head, and Draco left to get ice-cream, leaving her to her thoughts.

 _Today's like a dream come true. I'm in_ the _Diagon Alley, and now I know that there are other people like me! But, how long will this last?,_ worried Hermione.

She rubbed at her eyes, feeling a bit sleepy all of a sudden and waited for Draco to come back. The Parlor was quaint, but bright. The color theme was white and beige with red accents. There were three different booths with comfy red chairs, and there were also tables with circular red stools. From her vantage point, she could see tubs of different colored ice cream, as well as trays full of others, and some condiments. Today's special seemed to be "Dark Chocolate Lava with and Butterbeer Chocolate Chips," which to Hermione, a chocolate lover, it seemed like heaven.

Sooner or later, Draco reappeared with two goblets, both piled with three globes of chocolate each. "I don't know about you, but the special sounded delicious, so I got it. It's just dark chocolate with a special wizarding snack inside it."

Hermione laughed, surprised that he was able to get exactly what she wanted without even knowing. While she had no idea what "butterbeer" was, she was sure she would like it. After all, she's been liking everything about the wizarding world, including Draco himself, the thought which she banished immediately, scolding her thoughts.

"Thanks. Um, what's butterbeer?" She said, looking at the glass goblet of chocolate-filled goodness.

"It's like … muggle butterscotch in liquid form, kind of, but … just taste it," said Draco, digging in.

"So what's next on the agenda? Wands?" She asked, following Draco and putting a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. She nearly sighed in delight; the chocolate paired with the butterbeer was delicious, and she wondered what butterbeer taste on its own.

"No, I was thinking of getting some supplies for you, so I can teach you basic potion making. Also, star charts, and the like so that you're all caught up on the basic wizarding curriculum."

Hermione brightened, she wanted to learn more about wizarding culture, she was anxious to prove herself. "Wait! Is there some sort of a bookstore? I'm sure I can pick up some books and learn from those, as well."

"Of course. How about while I get everything, you just explore the bookstore? Don't leave the store, though. Diagon Alley may look small, but anyone can get lost." Most of all, Draco didn't want Hermione accidentally walking into Knockturn Alley or some other place that was dangerous or where she could get transported to different parts of the world, magical or muggle.

"Gotcha, Professor Malfoy," joked Hermione. In some ways Draco was acting like a professor, and this entire thing was like a class trip. If this is what wizarding schools felt like, Hermione would do _anything_ to transfer away from her miserable private school where she was constantly bullied.

* * *

When she walked into the bookstore after being shown there by Draco, she felt as if she was in her own personal heaven. There were shelves upon shelves of books, old and new. Some had perfect, new bindings, while others had ragged, practically torn off ones. All in all, however, the almost-infinite collection of books gave Hermione a special kind of happiness.

First, she grabbed a cart. It was a magical cart, so it had practically no weight. She piled books on top of books, from magical maladies to alchemy to Tales of Beedle the Bard, anything that she could learn wizarding culture from. Most importantly, she got the new and updated versions of Hogwarts: A History and the Pureblood Directory, as they were the special books that led to her introduction of the wizarding world. She didn't care much for the Pureblood Directories, but it was special to her heart in that it was the first book she saw at the abandoned library, and the book that led to her getting Hogwarts: A History after checking out what was in the box.

She didn't see Draco anywhere around, so she braved up and head to the cashier, which was surprisingly empty in comparison to the sports shop, labeled "Quality Quidditch Supplies".

She placed her cart of books on the counter, which seemed to surprise the girl there, who looked at her weirdly, as if no one ever voluntarily bought so many books. "Um, I was wondering, could I, perhaps, use muggle money to purchase these? I, uh, forgot to exchange before coming here."

The girl smiled at her, before taking Hermione's money. "Oh, of course, I understand. I'm muggleborn, you know, and that used to be me _all_ the time. I'd give this to you without any cost, but you've got a ton of books here. Tell ya what, I'll give ya half of these without any cost, and the other half in total is … lemme see, its been a while since I had to convert galleons and the like into muggle money. Half of this is 33 galleons, 3 sickles, and 4 knuts. So, I'll be takin' 100 pounds from ya. Yep, 100 pounds, and here's your change. Thanks for buying from here," said the girl, who had a toothy smile, that was so bright, it automated a bright smile from Hermione, too.

"Thank you!" said Hermione as the girl used her wand to package all the books into one tiny coin, labeled _Flourish and Blotts_. Hermione was glad she'd brought as much money as possible, she didn't want to have to depend on Draco for everything, and plus, now she knew she could just exchange straight at the cashier, as well.

"All you'll have to do when ya get home is just say "open" to the coin, this is a new thing we're tryin out, see if customers like this better. Enjoy your day!"

Saying goodbye to the kind girl, she left the store, even though Draco said not to. _What could possibly go wrong,_ thought Hermione, putting the coin that held her new collection of books in her purse.

Of course, just as she walked out of the door, she collided with a bespectacled boy who was talking to a bright red head.

 _Of course,_ thought Hermione. _Only I could just collide with some complete strangers my first day here._

* * *

 **AN:** Hello, and yay for a new chapter!

For the bookstore girl, I tried to give her a sort of accent, as I like to believe that the wizarding community is full of different people from different cultures or dialects, so I hope I wrote the accent correctly.

This is more of a question to the readers than an actual AN, but what kind of Hermione do you prefer to see? A dark!Hermione, or light!Hermione (even though everyone is shades of grey)? I was planning on doing dark!Hermione, since I've been hinting at it in some lines, but I'd like to hear your thoughts! :D

Other than that, this is it, and thanks for reading!

* * *

 _ **Reviews are dark chocolate lava, follows are butterbeer and chocolate chips, and favorites are a date with Draco or Hermione at Florean Fortescue's! :D**_

(hahahahaha, the last one is killing me)


	4. Chapter Three

**Beautiful Darkness by _EssTheDreamer_**

* * *

 *****Chapter Three*****

 _ **Of Familiars and Friends**_

* * *

"Who are you?" asked the boy, the one with the glasses, after getting up.

Hermione was miffed. Most people, after pushing you down, would apologize, especially if they didn't help you up. _Wizarding culture is a bit backwards_ , thought Hermione.

"I'm …" Hermione wondered if she should reveal her real name. Draco had put up a glamour on her, to protect her identity for who knows what reason, so maybe he'd like her to keep up the mystery. "I'm Charlotte Watson," she said, deciding to go with a name of a famous muggle actress, only the shortened version.

"Oh … I'm Harry Potter," said the boy, waiting for a reaction. Hermione didn't know what else to say, so she just said "Oh, that's … nice."

The boy - Harry - looked shocked at her reaction, or rather, the way she had no reaction. Hermione then noticed the red haired boy, who stood there looking like a fish. After a nudge from Harry, he stepped out of his flustered state. "I'm Ronald Weasley, but you can call me Ron. Uh, what school do you go to?"

Again, Hermione was at a standstill. She wanted to attend Hogwarts, having read all about it, even though it was an outdated version, but she didn't know how to apply or how to even notify them of her magical abilities. She decided that she could tell a partial truth. "I'm being home-schooled, although I hope to attend Hogwarts next semester." That was the truth, but only if you spun the words around.

Just then, Draco appeared. "Granger, didn't I say to _stay_ in the store?" He was carrying a bag full of stuff, such as scrolls of parchment, and on his other hand, he held a black and silver broom with _Firebolt Supreme_ labeled in silver letters. When he reached Hermione, he turned the bag into a coin, just like the bookstore girl did, and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Who is Granger supposed to be? And who are you to command her around?" asked the redhead, Ron.

"Granger? He said, uh, Char. Maybe your ears are a bit stuffy," said Hermione, making up an excuse on the spot.

"Yes, I call her Char, it's a shortened version of her name, you know. There's no problem with that, I believe. I'm Draco Malfoy," said Draco, a bit snottily. He seemed to realize that she went by a fake name here.

"Oh, you're a Malfoy, explains the white hair! That family is known for Dark Magic and allying with the Dark Lord, that's for sure. You should hang out with the right sort, like us," said Ron, motioning to Harry and himself, as if it was a universal fact, turning to Hermione. Harry looked surprised at Ron's words and shot him with a glare.

Hermione also looked shocked at the way they quickly dismissed Draco, just because of his name. She quickly rose to the defense of Draco. "Honestly, magic is magic, colors do not matter. One decision from the past should not also draw out your whole life, especially if it was someone else who made it. Come on, Draco, I'm sure we have better things to do than hang out with these bigoted idiots" she said, not even bothering to wait for a reply from the judgy duo. She grabbed Draco's arm and pulled him to the opposite direction that Harry and Ron were standing in, nearly running with the speed Hermione was pulling.

When Hermione found a suitable location to stop in, she turned and looked at Draco, who looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "I can defend myself, you know."

"Yes, of course I know _that_ , but you didn't exactly do that, did you?"

"I was _going_ to, but you didn't let me," huffed Draco, like a child.

Hermione laughed at the way he was acting; she'd just defended him, and yet he was still acting like a spoiled child. Thinking of that, she realized that she didn't know much about Draco, who was going to basically be her tutor for all of summer.

"Are you an only child?"

Still with his raised eyebrow, he replied "Yes, why are you asking?"

"I just realized that I know next to nothing about you, and I'm going to depend on you to teach me magic."

"Oh, right, that. I'm sure that we'll be well acquainted by the time you start Hogwarts. Speaking of that … to get you into Hogwarts, I'm going to need to show you to my parents, and you'll need to impress them," said Draco, worried how his parents were going to react to a girl, a muggle one at that, even if she was immensely powerful with some dark tendencies.

"What am I, your girlfriend?" asked Hermione with a roll of her eyes.

"If you want to be, all you had to do was ask, sweetheart," he said, bringing his hands to his heart and leaning back in a teasing gesture.

"Who would want to be _your_ girlfriend? I'd rather date a ferret," muttered Hermione, who could feel a blush coming on. For all her ability to mask her emotions, she still couldn't control her blushes!

Draco chuckled at Hermione's retort and secretly felt pleased that he'd conjured a blush out of her. "Anyway, we'll need to set up a form of communication. Can't be knocking into you every time we need to talk, right?"

"Yes, of course, but how do wizards communicate?" she asked, hoping it wasn't something weird.

"By owl, or by Floo. I'd connect to you by Floo, but … then my parents would want to meet you _before_ you're ready, and that would be hard to get out of. So, we'll get you an owl," said Draco, walking into the store.

Hermione had never been much of an animal person, save for when she'd once had a cat named Crookshanks, from her childhood. When the cat had suddenly went missing, it had been a huge heartbreak of Hermione's. So when she say a kitten that looked like a miniature Crooks, she couldn't help but pick it up.

"Oh, Draco, look, this kitten's calling me. Surely we can communicate in other ways, I don't have need of an owl. I'd rather this cute little ball of joy," she said, starting to coo at the ginger kitten.

The kitten didn't seem to like Hermione that much, even going as far to scratch her on the cheekbone, just below her right eye. Hermione let go of the cat right away. "On second thought, let's just get an owl," wincing in pain at the scratch.

Draco, who'd been watching the whole exchange with arched eyebrows, brought out his wand and tapped her cheek, and the scratch vanished, although it left a slightly faded mark.

"Cats just hate me in general. I was a fool to think one might finally like me," she said, looking wistfully at the cat.

"Don't worry, most animals dislike wizards that aren't their wizard or with whom they don't form a special bond with. I'd once tried to pet a phoenix, and it flew away to the other side of the room. Bit of a disappointment, but I'll find my familiar one da-" Interrupting Draco's speech to cheer them up, just then, a snowy furball launched itself at Draco and started licking his face, much to the amusement of Hermione. Draco stood there, gaping, as he was slobbered over. The shopkeeper came towards them.

"Oh, congratulations! You've found you familiar. This little Akita's been so hard to take care of, I've been waiting for the day it's wizard would walk through these doors. You can have him, I can't deal any longer. I believe she doesn't have a name yet, so good luck!" the shopkeeper went off to get starting supplies for the white Akita, and Draco stood there, with a dog licking him. Hermione was still laughing, so much that her stomach hurt.

After Draco got rid of his momentary surprise, he'd paid the shopkeeper, and paid for Hermione's owl, a midnight black owl that she'd non-creatively named "Midnight". Draco, also not feeling creative, named the pup "Akita", and they left the store with two pets.

Midnight wasn't her familiar, but she learned from the shopkeeper that some familiar-wizard relationships develop, and aren't at first sight, and Hermione knew that she would love the owl.

* * *

 **AN:** Hello, everyone! I hope you all liked the chapter, even if it was shorter than usual!

I was going to make Crookshanks her familiar, but seeing as canon Crookshanks was Hermione's familiar in 3rd year, and this is in basically 6th year, I decided to just give her a pretty little owl. I've always loved the pet name Midnight, and I've just wanted to use it, so, Midnight the owl was born.

Akita was a total unplanned accident. I just wanted Draco to get slobbered on, but since it happened after his familiar speech (which I don't think it's canon, sorry), I decided to give little ol' Draco an Akita instead of a ferret, which is kind of cliche.

 **Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows!** In response to the reviews on whether Hermione is dark or light, I think going with a mixture, aka grey, with some dark tendencies, like one review suggested, will match this story the best! I am also quite happy because I have the rest of the story planned out, and there will be a ton of plot twists (sorry, not sorry, but sorry, lol). There will be two major parts to this story, one before the major plot twist, and one after, in which Hermione's character will get a bit darker.

But that's in the future, so don't worry about it.

In response to a review on having Hermione be multi-cultural, that's a good idea, thanks! I haven't seen any Indian/Desi Hermione's in the fandom, so I'll try to add that in, somehow. Or just a ton of different cultures in general. JK Rowling never specified, so us fanfic writers can do whatever our heart desires, haha.

In preparation for Draco and Hermione's tutoring sessions, what do you guys want to see? I'll definitely have Hermione react to Divination, but if you guys have any requests, then just review to let me know so that I can include it. Their tutoring sessions will be written in snippets, and will be happening over the rest of this summer.

Best,

 _Ess_

* * *

 _ **Reviews are your own personal Akita, follows are Midnight as your owl, and favorites are a little Crookshanks that doesn't bite! :D**_


	5. Chapter Four

**Beautiful Darkness by _EssTheDreamer_**

* * *

 *****Chapter Four*****

 _ **Of Wands and Discoveries**_

* * *

"I'd always thought that I'd have a dragon as my familiar. It was my childhood dream, you know. Draco and his Dragon, what a lovely catchphrase. I even had a stuffed dragon," said Draco, enjoying that his remarks made Hermione laugh until she started wheezing, at which point, she'd held out her hands, motioning him to stop.

"Honestly, Malfoy, you're too hilarious, stop! I'm just glad I've got an owl. How to explain this to mum, I don't know," said Hermione, petting Midnight through the cage. Draco frowned at the fact that she'd reverted to calling him Malfoy when she'd called him Draco just a while ago.

He then wondered why she never mentioned her father, remembering the memory of Kaitlyn talking about how her father let her. "Granger, this might be a personal question, but what happened to your father?"

"Oh. Well, he was killed in an alley when I was a year old. Mum was distraught, so we moved around a lot till we got here and put all of her efforts into me and her job. I … don't even know what he even looks like, because Mum got rid of all the pictures. But it's okay, Mum was always great, always gave me what I wanted, and what I could have," said Hermione, shrugging.

Draco didn't know how to properly respond to that, so he awkwardly patted Hermione's back. They were making their way back to Hermione's place, not wanting to apparate with their new found pets and all the stuff they were carrying. Then, they would head back to Diagon Alley for her wand.

"Wait! Shouldn't we drop off this stuff at the Magyk Librarium? We're going to practice and meet there anyways, so it would be easier to do keep everything there."

Draco nodded, and tired of carrying everything for the pets, which they'd been unable to transfigure, he suggested that he take all the items and Apparate there, while Hermione would walk the pets there.

"Sure. The doors a bit hidden, but it's way in the back in front of the huge tree," Hermione said, taking a hold of Akita's leash, and balancing Midnight's cage on the other hand.

When she made it to the library, Draco was standing there with a grin on his face, and his wand in his hand.

"What's there to smile about?" Hermione knew the library wasn't the best. It was an old library, but the doors still worked, and there were still some books, although some were ancient. One summer, when she was bored, she been scavenging around and found a nearly-preserved room that seemed to have some sort of magic keeping it clean. That was also where she'd found the books.

"I'm thinking of showing you one of my all-time-favorite spells from when I was a kid. When I'd behaved badly, mother would make me clean my room rather than having the house-elves clean it, but my favorite house-elf, Dipsy-Dot, showed me a neat spell. Makes _everything_ clean and back to their best condition. Of course, she can do it better than I, being a house-elf … would you like to meet a house-elf, Hermione?"

Hermione wanted to know everything about the wizarding world, so of course, she nodded.

"Dipsy-Dot! I need you!"

All of a sudden, a tiny little thing, with big, floppy ears and and shiny eyes appears in front of Hermione, startling her.

"Master Draco, how can Dipsy-Dot help?" Its voice was squeaky, and with each syllable spoken, its eyes grew wider and its voice rose to a higher pitch.

"Well, for one thing, don't tell mother and father about Hermione, that's her right there," he said, pointing to Hermione. "And second, can you use your nifty cleaning spell that you taught me to fix things up? Thank you, Dipsy-Dot."

The elf bowed, and then waved its hands around, and then in a blink of Hermione's eyes, the library brightened up, the shelves were righted, and the patchy chairs and broken tables were all repaired. All in one blink.

In another blink, the elf was gone, and Draco was looking at Hermione, waiting for a reaction.

"So, you just … command Dipsy-Doy? Like a slave?!" Draco could tell Hermione was getting angrier each passing second from the glint in her eyes that was reminiscent of the time she got angry in her memories and burst with uncontrollable magic.

"No, no, no, Hermione!" he said, just as the chairs started shaking. "House elves do this because they _want_ to. Their life goal is to please their master, no one is forcing them. I promise you, I treat my house-elves with the utmost respect, as do most wizards," he said, trying to placate Hermione.

"Hmph. Are you sure they want to work?" she asked, not believing Draco that someone would willingly work to clean, without any restrictions. The chairs, did, however, stop shaking from her uncontrollable magic.

"Yes, do you want to try firing Dipsy-Dot? See her reaction? It won't be pretty, or kind to the elf."

"Yes! Call her over, please!"

Again, Dipsy-Dot was brought over. Hermione leaned down to reach the elf, and patted her head. "Dipsy-Dot … do you want to be freed?"

As soon as Hermione uttered those words, particularly the last one, Dipsy-Dot jumped up in the air and leaped back from Hermione. Then, she started banging her head against the walls of the library, which were now clean.

" _WHY_ _does Master Draco and Missy Hermione want me_ gone!" she wailed, her head starting to bruise and bleed.

"Wait! Stop doing that, you're getting hurt!" When that didn't console the elf, she said, "You're not going to be freed!" she said, wanting to stop the elf from suffering.

Just as quick as she started harming herself, Dipsy-Dot stopped and healed herself. "Thank you, Missy Hermione! I promise I'll be the best elf ever!" The elf bowed before leaving.

Hermione looked at Draco; he seemed to be waiting for her to say something, and also a tad amused.

"Sorry … it's just that I, I felt bad for her, you know. When I was younger, the kids who'd used to bully me, they'd command me around like a slave. In history, too, when I found out that people were enslaved and treated badly, it just - made me _angry_. I'm sorry, really, I am," she said meaning it. She guessed not all things were the same in every scenario.

"Uh, it's OK. I never really thought of it like that, you know. The house elves were always just there when I was growing up. Anyway, here, take my hand, we should apparate back to Diagon Alley, you know, for your wand."

Hermione took Draco's hand, and in a blink, they were back in Diagon Alley.

* * *

"You were right, it gets better," said Hermione, still feeling a bit nauseous, but not as bad as her first time.

While they were walking to Ollivander's wand shop, Hermione asked, "How does one get into Hogwarts?"

"Well, typically, you get a letter on your 11th birthday, and you go to Platform 9 and ¾ at King's Cross Station."

After all Draco had shown her, a quarter platform wasn't that hard to believe. "Why didn't I get it then? I was born on September 19th, I should've gotten it!"

"Maybe that's why. You were born after the cutoff date for that year. But students like that usually get admitted for next year. You're moving around shouldn't have been much of a problem, I guess, but I'll have to look at my father's school governor records, today. I'll tell you what I can find out."

Hermione nodded, and followed Draco into a tiny shop lined with boxes upon boxes. There was one singular desk with a lantern over it, and a small chair in a corner.

Just then, an old man with glowing eyes appeared. "You're here for a wand, aren't you?" He took a look at Draco, before saying, "I remember your wand, I remember every single one. 10 inches, hawthorn wood, unicorn hair core. Hawthorn wood, complex like its owner. Good fit, I believe."

Draco looked at Ollivander, and remembered him saying something like that on his 11th birthday, as well. He remained unfazed, while Hermione was skeptical. She didn't believe in stuff like horoscopes and signs matching your personality, much less the type of your hand. But, she was in the wizarding world now, she was going to have to start believing in some stuff, one way or another.

Ollivander went to the back of the shop and brought out 13 boxes of wands. "Here, give this a go, child. Another Hawthorn, but with a dragon heartstring core." Hermione held the wand. While it was reasonably comfortable, it just … didn't feel _right._ She shot a spell she'd read about in one of the old books, _Engorgio,_ at a pin on the table. Nothing happened to the pin's size, but the color did change.

"Hmm … try this one … vine, with a phoenix feather core." This time, she put her attention to a cup on the desk, trying to make it smaller with a _Reducio,_ another spell in the books. However, unlike the color changing her last try, the cup shattered, sending shards all over. Thankfully it was empty, and Ollivander repaired it without a glance or a glare.

It went on like that for a while, and soon, they were down to the 13th wand. "13, a most unlucky number for most wizards. Let's see about you," he said, passing the wand onto Hermione, this time not saying a thing about its specifications like he did with the other wands.

As soon as the wand fit in Hermione's hands, she felt a rush of power flow through her. She'd always felt this like with her wandless magic that she'd been doing over the past few years, but the wand kept it in control, not zooming through her wildly and bursting out. She started floating, but she didn't even realize it, too focused on her wand. Draco looked at her in concern and tried reaching over to help her down, but Ollivander stopped him.

She started glowing as well, and the wand, _this wand,_ it gave her a feeling of … belonging, finally feeling _right_ somewhere. Soon, the glow was gone, and she was back on the ground. Her curls still held some static and were wild around her face, flyaways everywhere, but she didn't care, for she finally had a wand!

"This'll be it. 10 and ¾ , vine wood, dragon heartstring core. Vine is rare for most, but perfect for those who will reach great heights. It was a pleasure helping you find your wand, thank you," said Ollivander, kindly.

Draco reached into his pocket and dropped a couple of galleons on the counter, before reaching over to Hermione.

"Are you alright?"

"Alright? I'm feeling the best I've ever felt! Oh, Draco, how could I possibly thank you enough for bringing me to this wonderful world!" she said. Hermione was on a magic high, and she couldn't help but tackle Draco in a hug, in the shop.

Draco wasn't a touchy-feely person, he just wasn't raised that way. His mother was affectionate, but nowadays, the Dark Lord frowned upon any show of love, he believed "petty" feelings such as love weakened a person. So when Hermione hugged him, he didn't know what to do, but hug back, he hugged her as well, although with not as much enthusiasm Hermione did.

She stepped back from the hug, smiled brightly at him. She walked out of the shop, and Draco followed. She most definitely didn't notice the red twinge on Draco's fair skin.

"This really is the best day of my life. What's next on our agenda, Professor Malfoy?" Each step she took was lifted off with a bounce off of her feet. She truly was happy.

Clearing his throat, Draco said, "Nothing much, I think you should read all the books you purchased, and I'll meet with you, probably a couple days later. I'll find out what happened to your letter, in those days. I'll apparate you home." He grabbed onto Hermione, and in another blink, they were in front of her house.

Just before he turned to leave, she said,"Wait! Since you showed me around the magical world, how about I show you the muggle world? Just a part of it, at least."

'Why? Don't you hate the muggle world?"

"I just hate a few select people, not everyone. I guess the majority was rude to me, but I've met enough kind people to not be biased."

"Hmm … I'll owl you when I'll be back, we can go on that day, but only once. The muggle world is not somewhere I'd want to stay longer than needed."

"No worries, I just want to show you a favorite part of mine. I promise you'll enjoy it."

"Better keep your promises, Granger. Or the Malfoy monster's gonna get you, " he joked, eyes sparkling.

Hermione smirked. "What, is he going to tickle me to death?" she taunted.

Draco grinned, and then he attacked her neck with his fingers, and Hermione tried in vain to get out from his hold. She was laughing loudly, and with each attack with his fingers to either her neck or her belly, she was puddle of laughter.

He finally stopped tickling her, and Hermione's laughter slowly died down, her smile staying bright. She realized how close their faces were. Their noses were almost touching, and if she moved up just a bit, their lips would be millimeters away.

Draco also realized it, and instead of moving away, he moves closes, just a bit, but enough that Hermione can feel his breath on her. She never realized how many different shades of silver were in his eyes, and he never realized that her eyes weren't _just_ brown, they were _golden._ Hermione closed her eyes and moved forward, tiling her head up.

Just then, Hermione's front door _flew_ open, and Draco almost dropped Hermione. He didn't, however his grip on Hermione's waist tightened and they both moved their heads far apart, both blushing.

"Um … mum, hello," she said, unsure of how to proceed with this, embarrassed at being caught. Hermione _never_ had friends over, much less a boy, so she wasn't sure how to proceed with this.

Mrs. Granger, contrary to how Hermione was expecting her mother to react, was overjoyed. She knew her daughter was different from others, she knew that weird, disturbing things happened to her, and sometimes she was bullied for it, but she stayed strong with the hope that Hermione was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and eventually, she would make friends. _Looks like she did,_ though Mrs. Granger.

"Hermione! Who is this _dashing_ young man, and how have you not introduced me to him?" her mother said, putting on an offended face.

Hermione gulped. "Um … this is Draco Malfoy, who also _really_ has to get going now. Yep, _now._ " She nudged Draco, in case he didn't get the message.

"Yes, of course, I must get going, Mrs. Granger. But, before I leave, I must say, your daughter is _delightful,"_ he said, winking walking away with a wave.

Hermione got the sense he only said that to annoy her, and make her think of excuses to explain to her mother.

Before her mum could ask any questions Hermione could not answer, she said,"Yes, well, mum, he's just someone I have to work with for a … renovation of the … old library! Yes! He's also going to tutor me, so I might be out of the house a bit, don't mind too much."

Mrs. Granger smiled. "Of course, Hermione, I understand. Come in, I was a bit busy at the hospital today, so I couldn't cook, but I ordered your favorite, chicken curry! Eat up," she said, pulling Hermione into the warm house, smiling at her daughter and hoping all was well.

* * *

The next morning, Hermione went straight to the library. She put the coin on the floor, from the bookstore, and said, " _Open."_ Automatically, a pile of stacked books appeared. They were stacked in alphabetical order, and Hermione put each one of them on the shelves, in that order. She liked things to be organized.

After putting them all on the shelves, she decided she was going to read _every single one of them_ , committing them to memory with her near-photographic memory, and she was going to be the brightest witch of them all, even if she was 6 years late, even if she didn't know how talented some of the witches could be. Nothing could stop her, not now that she found out _so_ much.

But before she would tackle the books from the store, she went to the hidden room. It was just like always, a touch comfy, a touch dark. There, she had found it mostly empty except for a soft chair and three boxes full of books. She'd read two out of the of the three boxes, and she'd organized them, too, alphabetically so they'd be easy to find.

The black box was the only one she hadn't opened, due to the warning on the top. But Hermione wanted to learn _everything,_ even the deepest, darkest spells, so she opened the box.

Inside, there were books with leather covers, books with intricate designs that seemed to be hand-drawn, books that were thicker and heavier than any book she'd encountered, save for possibly Hogwarts: A History, or the Essential Book of Spells.

The first of those "dark" books, the one at the top of the pile, was one labeled "Dark Magyck of Ancient Tymes".

 _Perfect,_ she thought, opening up the book. _The best way to start is to start at the beginning._

* * *

Meanwhile, in a dark Manor, far, far away from Hermione's, Draco uncovered a book labeled "Muggleborn Hogwarts Students."

He discovered that Hogwarts had a special, secret policy towards muggleborns. Some muggleborns were rejected, as those were the ones who had slight forms of magic, such as telekinesis or highly vivid dreams. The other ones that were talented enough, were evaluated and observed by school governors and professors, mostly due to the fact that revealing magic to the outside world was dangerous, and had to be done in ways such that the knowledge was not given to the wrong people.

The students were organized alphabetically. He found Hermione Granger, after flipping past many pages and dates, written in a familiar script that he could just not pin down.

* * *

 _ **Observations** : smart, bullied by muggle students, remarkably talented, (research on whether she's related to any pure blood squibs). _

_Too powerful, in fact. Seems to have built in anger and uncontrollable at times, and then remarkably controlled_ wandless _magic, similar to that of a young Voldemort._ _ **REJECTED**_

 _ **Signed,**_

 _A. D._

* * *

It was only then, at the initials, that he realized that Albus Dumbledore, had signed it. To check his suspicions, he got out his transfer letter to Hogwarts, which was signed by Albus Dumbledore in the same, loopy, script.

She was rejected. For being _powerful,_ more than Voldemort, enough to amaze _Albus Dumbledore_ , himself.

 _Rejected. Pushed to the side. Taken from an opportunity of a lifetime._

He had some explaining to do to Hermione.

* * *

 **AN:** Wow, this is by far the longest chapter I've written for this, at 3,000+ words! Sorry for the late upload, though.

I hope this answers all of your questions on why Hermione didn't get her letter. I imagine that due to the Secrecy thing, they would have to make sure it would be worth revealing the secret, and if Dumbledore saw how Hermione reacts to things and sees her raw power, he may second guess things.

Thank you all again, for you follows, favorites, and reviews! It makes my day to see them! For the plot twist that I mentioned in the last AN, it won't be here for a while, so unfortunately, you'll have to wait an see! :D

Remember to tell me what specific things you want to see Draco teach Hermione. So far, Transfiguration and and a mix of Light and Dark magic (basically magical theory, in a way) have been requested, and they shall be featured! :D

Thanks,

 _Ess_

 **PS:** Happy early New Years, and I have a one-shot that I have planned, roughly, that will be up either tomorrow, or the day after (New Year's, for me!), so watch out for that! :D

* * *

 _ **Reviews are a new wand, follows are tickles from Draco, and favorites are laughter from Hermione!  
(:D)**_


	6. Chapter Five

**Beautiful Darkness by _EssTheDreamer_**

* * *

 ** _***_ Chapter Five*****

 _ **The First Session**_

* * *

Hermione had been reading "Standard Spells for Year 7" when Draco popped up at the Magyck Librarium, alerting her with a pop that she'd grown to regard as familiar to apparition.

"Why are you reading a year ahead?" asked Draco. Durmstrang's curriculum was more advanced and packed with more classes than Hogwart's so he wasn't stressing, but he wondered why Hermione was.

"Hm? Oh, well, I read all the other books on the other years, and they just were too simple," she said. She motioned for him to get closer, and patted the ground for him to sit down next to her, which he did.

In one hand, Hermione held her book, in the other, she held her wand. On the floor in front of her, were a variety of objects, like acorns, buttons, and single earrings. They were all arranged in rows of organized columns, varying from size and color

"I decided to tackle transfiguration first," she said, waving her head and changing the color of an acorn into a deep violet.

"Honestly, Granger, you're taking this too simply. Changing colors is not going to help you in a real life scenario," said Draco.

"Huh? Why? It's not like living in the wizarding world is a life or death kind of thing," said Hermione, joking.

 _Little did she know, it wasn't, at least not in these times,_ thought Draco.

"Hermione … I don't know how to tell you this, but the wizarding world isn't all rainbows and unicorns. At the moment, there's a … conflict going on, for lack of better words. Sooner or later, there's going to be an all out war, and you can't change the color of someone's hair to stop someone. Some people are just going to kill you on the spot, or take even _pleasure_ out of torturing you." Draco knew he was piling new and scary stuff on her all at once, but it was best to rip the hypothetical bandage off as quick as possible.

Hermione didn't know how to react. She'd read _all_ about wizarding history, and most of it was bloody. Bloody and dangerous, and she had hoped that all the danger had left with the last wizarding war involving Lord Voldemort.

"Who … who started it? What's it concerning?"

Draco was surprised that Hermione had no particular reaction, not even horrified to this news; If he was guessing right, then she probably read all about it, or she just wasn't surprised by anything.

"The Dark Lord is at the head of it again. Some wizarding historians are calling it continuation of the last wizarding war, part two. Except, this time, it's a lot more deadly. What it's about, I don't know anymore. The last wizarding war was all about killing and separating our world from … yours, and it's just … I don't know. Muggleborns and muggles alike were killed, just for the sake of killing and separating. Now, the beginning of the war _was_ started using the prejudice against purebloods and half-bloods and muggleborns. But now, it's just morphed into a game of _power._ If you've got it, and you're not scared of killing or hurting, then you join the Death Eater's. If you've got it, and you've got a pure heart made of gold, then you join the Order of the Phoenix. But, be warned, the Death Eater's look down on muggleborns," he said, the 'like you' part hanging in the air.

"Do I … do I need to chose a side?" said Hermione, timidly. She really wasn't a fan of violence, and tried to stay away from it, since all her life, she'd been hated for the violence of her accidental magic.

With hesitation, Draco said, "Yes. The Death Eater's kill any neutrals, and the Order won't protect you unless you're on their side. It's a cruel, cruel world, at the moment."

" … what side are you on?" she asked, after a moment of silence.

"I'm … my family, they were Death Eater's, so I … I'm a Death Eater," said the blond. He pulled up his sleeves, and motioned to his skull-and-serpent mark, which she'd seen the first day that they'd collided. "This, it's the mark, the mark of the Death Eater's, the Dark Lord's mark."

"Oh," said Hermione, not knowing what was best to say. "I thought it was a crazy cool tattoo," she said, trying to lighten the heavy mood.

Draco smiled, but it was a weak one. He knew he'd never be able to joke about this, no matter which future he would live in.

Just then, a thought occurred to Hermione. "Draco, since your family's been in the Death Eater's for a while, does that mean that they … and you, included, look down upon … people like me?"

There. The question Draco had been dreading, the question that would either weaken or strengthen their friendship. The questions on which he would need to be truthful on.

"I'll be honest, I used to. You see, I was raised with the belief that muggles and muggleborns alike are filth, filth at the bottom of my shoes, and then even less. I went with those beliefs, in the beginning, but I saw … someone, a muggleborn, who was amazing, and powerful. She went to Beauxbatons, and she was adopted by Purebloods. Senja Katrinavitch. But, then … she was tortured on my floor for being part of a neutral family, adding onto her being a mudblood, when I was 15. She wouldn't have been killed like that had she chosen a side, but she was a non-violent person, someone who advocated for rights and stuff like that. She was the sister I never had, you could say," said Draco, feeling tears come up. He'd never even knew that Senja was a _muggleborn_ that was adopted till that fateful day.

He could still remember her heart-wrenching screams, he could still remember the way her tears stained her face, and he could still remember the way the light in her eyes left like a switch turned off

"But, it was what it was, and she died. And I … don't think _that,_ that muggleborns are undeserving of magic anymore, I swear! Which is why, Hermione, you have to somehow demonstrate to the Death Eater's that you are a formidable opponent and someone they should fear. By the end of the summer."

Hermione looked at Draco. She took his hand, which was shaking from the memories,and squeezed it. "I understand, Draco. It's ok, really, and it's good that you've changed. We've got the rest of the summer, haven't we? We'll use it accordingly, and after, we can go out to the muggle world and show you one of my favorite things, relieve some of this stress!"

"Right, I'd forgotten I had agreed to that," hoping she'd not go to extremes. He'd heard of a muggle amusement park, and that just didn't sound nice. Composing himself, he moved onto talk about other things. "Ok, but before I start teaching you, show me what you've done so far."

"Well, I've done some Transfiguration, some Charm work, I've made some potions, and -" She was cut off by Draco.

"Show me, not tell me, Hermione. Saying is one thing, acting is another."

Glaring, Hermione picked up an acorn. She didn't even pick up her wand, she wandlessly transformed the acorn into a blue bird. Remembering what Draco told her about the ruthless state the wizarding world was in, she transfigured it into a sharp, jagged knife, which surprised Draco. Draco nodded at what she'd done, and she dropped the knife.

Then, she used a spell to shoot Draco to the other side of the room, which she'd prepared with a cushioning charm in case they started learning dueling early on.

"Granger, what in the hell are you doing?" he said, picking himself up from the floor and brushing off any dust.

She smirked. "I'm _showing_ you what I learned, Malfoy. It's Show and Tell, wizarding edition."

She too stood up, picked up her wand, and used a charm to send the knife that she'd made at Draco. His eyes widened, but his instincts resulted in him putting up a shield charm just as the knife came near him.

At the collision of steel on magic, the knife burst into miniature pieces, but not of a knife, but of the original acorn. Of course, Hermione just transfigured another acorn into a knife and shot it back at him, this time being sure to add a spell so that it doesn't burst, but revert back into acorn form.

"Really, that's best you've got? Princess, I went to Durmstrang and I did _dark magic._ Over my summers, one of the darkest witches and wizards _tutored_ me, " he said, dodging the numerous knives she'd made and putting up shield charms, as well as trying to shoot a _Stupefy_ at her.

"Well then, instead of telling me the story of your life, shoot back!" Tired of playing with knives, she transformed the acorns into rabid dogs, taking inspiration from Akita barking in the background. Using a spell she'd read about in one of the dark spell books, she commanded them to attack Draco, but nothing fatal.

"Granger, what kind of books did you read? Controlling animals like this is _illegal,"_ he said, using a spell to jump up, and shooting every single dog back into an acorn using a _Finite Incantatem_ and magnifying it so he didn't have to do it individually.

"Oh, nothing much, just one labeled " _Druella Black's Guide To Control."_ It's not _that_ illegal, is it? All's fair in learning and war, after all," she said, deciding to use her Elemental powers, the ones she had before meeting Draco this time. She wanted to try using a wand this time, for better access and control, but she was unable to block one of his _Expelliarmus_ shots, and her vine wand flew out of her hand into Draco's.

" _That_ illegal?" said Draco with amusement. "You really are something, Hermione Granger," he said, while pocketing her wand.

Just then, the ground of the library cracked open, sending Draco to one side of the room, after nearly falling in. "Granger! _Where_ are you learning this, and _how_ are you doing this without a wand?"

"Maybe I'm just gifted," she said, sending a blast of water at him. The water hit him full in the face, and Hermione strengthened the force at which she sent the water to make him topple down to the wet ground.

Hoping she didn't take it too far, she stopped the water force and raced to the other ride of the room where Draco lay.

"Draco … are you - are you okay?" she said to his unmoving and drenched body. Strands of wet blond hair was hanging over his eyes, letting droplets of water slide down his face. She leaned down to poke him, and when nothing happened, she started shaking him slightly.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Malfoy! Draco, wake up, wake up, _wake up,_ " she said. Just then, Draco woke up, and flipped her over so that he was over her with a giant smirk on his face.

"Princess, let me teach you something. When in battle, _never_ let your compassion get the best of you, no matter how much you like who you're dueling. Just send an extra spell at them to make sure they're out, and leave without turning back. Or else, this will happen," he said. Hermione heard him, alright, but most of her brain was trying to ignore on how compromising this position was. Or how his breath smelled like vanilla and something minty. Or how the strands of his hair was beautifully arranged, even when wet or dripping on her face. Or how -

 _Hermione Jean Granger! Get a grip of yourself,_ she thought, blushing at her thoughts. She flipped Draco over while he was smugly smirking down on her, and said, "Well, Mr. Malfoy, if you're going to give me battle tactics, how about I give you one? Don't just _sit_ on your enemy, tie them up," she said, binding him with an _Incarcerous._

She then stood up and dried herself with a drying charm, thinking of putting one on Draco. She decided not to, and put the room back in order with a swish of her wand, glad that she'd been prepared with keeping the books and the furniture prepared with a couple of sticking charms and preservation charms so that their dueling wouldn't ruin them

"Hey! You can't just leave me here! I'm _wet!_ And I'm supposed to be your tutor!" said Draco, indignantly.

Hermione snorted. "Some tutor, if your protégé beats you the first duel."

"How was I supposed to know you were going to pull out Elemental magic? And without a wand?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and sat down on a chair with a book, calming her breathing rates. Soon, she was so immersed in her book, she never noticed Draco creep up on her. He pulled her up and hugged her tight, making her just as wet as he had been.

"Ugh! How did you get out? Why are you so cold, get away!" she said, trying in vain to push him away.

"Ah, ah, ah, little witch. You've forgotten I can do wandless magic like you. Quite simple to use a wandless _Finite Incantem,"_ he said, pulling Hermione to him as close as he could, savoring the warmth she provided.

She didn't like being wet, so she used a (wandless) warming charm on both of them. He finally let her go, much to the sadness of Hermione, now that they were both dry. But she wouldn't tell him that.

"Why didn't you just do that at first, Draco?"

"Now, now, what's the fun in that," smirked Draco, enjoying riling Hermione up. As much as he loved teasing her, they had bigger fish to fry. "Anyway, what else did you do? You mentioned making some potions?"

Nodding, Hermione went off and disappeared into a room, and brought out a crate full of vials of potions.

"You did all this in 3 days?" said Draco, bewildered at the rainbow of potions in the crate.

"Yes, well, you supplied me with enough vials and materials to last a couple of years, so I thought why not make the best of it. I made some useful potions, too, and some just for the sake of," she said, pointing to a swirling pink one.

She picked up the pink one and uncorked it. She took a whiff of it, bringing it to her nose. "Mmm, vanilla and chocolate, a little minty, new books, and- um, nevermind!"

Draco grinned. "So that's what your Amortentia smells like? Who's the lucky man?"

"Um, no one! Just … someone! Forget it," she said, blushing red, redder than Draco ever saw her so far.

He chucked, and brought the vial from her hands. He closed his eyes and breathed in. When he last smelled Amortentia, he hadn't liked anyone, so it just smelled like his favorite dessert, chocolate cake and green apples, memories of his childhood. "Hmm … spicy, delicious, and … butterscotch? I don't even know. It smells like -" He stopped himself from blurting out the name.

It was Hermione's time to tease. "Aww, Drakey-poo's got a widdle, little, crushy-wushy," she said in a high-pitched voice.

For the first time in Hermione's relationship with Draco, she saw him blush. His eyes were wide and he tried to cover it up by face palming, but Hermione saw it. She saw it, and she was laughing.

"Granger! Nothing to laugh over! It's no one in particular, I was going to say it smells like my childhood!"

"Sure, sure," she said, calming down her giggles. "Anyway, like I said, I have healing potions of different varieties in the top three rows, and the rest are different potions of different varieties, all labeled. I made five sets of Polyjuice, all we have to do is add the hair and consume, and since I had some time on my hands, so I attempted a couple of Felix Felicis, but it's not that good. The instructions said to turn it counterclock three times, the 2nd time a bit slowly, but I went slowly for the 2nd _and_ 3rd time, so it's probably screwed up!"

It was Draco's time to laugh. "Granger, it's ok. My godfather, he's a potions master, and he's recalled thousands of times where he's had adjusted the recipes when the instructions are wrong. If you'd like, I could get you a couple copies of his handwritten notes if I ask nicely, I suppose. My birthday did pass recently, so I could work that out, somehow," he said, a plan already formulating in his mind.

"Well, whatever he may write, this is the latest updated version, so it will work, though it may not be the best. Want to test it out?"

"No, no, just put it away somewhere safe. We might actually need luck on our side. Wait, how many vials did you make?"

"Three. In science, it's like muggle potions and transfiguration and charms mixed together -"

"I know what science is Hermione. Wizarding culture may be somewhat ancient, but some people like to be kept updated."

"Yes,well, it's best to have three different trials, so I did three."

"Hmm, give me one, and I'll show you what happens when you put in a phoenix feather of a drop of basilisk venom," he said, looking for where Hermione put all the potions supplies.

"Here, let me take you. I kept all the potions stuff in a separate room, I think it used to be the break room for the librarians," she said, pulling him over to the room. It was quite small, but it held the essentials, tables and counters. Hermione had also brought in things to organize the supplies and such.

She fished through one of the clear plastic boxes where she kept the supplies. She pulled out a vial of Phoenix feathers, as well as one of Basilisk venom, as well as getting some empty vials and getting out the cauldrons.

"What the - why does basilisk venom and phoenix feather's cost so much?" she said, looking at the outrageous price tag on the vials. She'd done some research on wizarding currency, and now she knew as much as the average wizard did, if not more on the value of money.

"It's because these are used for dark potions and spells. The more expensive, the less produced and purchased, at least that's what the Ministry thinks. Maybe not the phoenix feathers as much, they tend to exist to stabilize potions more than leading to a more darker profile than the basilisk venom," he said, taking the vials and placing them on one of the counters.

"So what you're saying is that the Ministry is stupid for not thinking money will stop someone?" said the brunette, watching at Draco divided half of the Felix Felicis into two different cauldrons.

"Pretty much. If the Ministry was a little more effective, and less for show, maybe things would be different, and Voldemort would be a thing of the past. But, unfortunately, most of the Ministry higher-ups are the stupid ones, chosen by those just as dumb," said Draco. He got out a dropper, and pinched out some basilisk venom.

"You're going to want to be very accurate when dealing with the potions supplies that a litte more potent, doesn't matter whether it's used for dark or light potions. Just ingredients that are powerful as hell, you have to be careful. Like here, I'm adding in _one_ drop, not too little, and not too much. Too much could result in a fatal explosion - which, by the way, a potioneer is always cautious of and has a shield ready - and too little could ruin the potion and result in a failure." Hermione took in every syllable, every word, every sentence Draco spoke, and stored it in her head.

The clear honey colored liquid of the Felix Felicis turned a shimmery green for just a second, before reverting back into Felix Felicis, the color change reflecting in both of their eyes.

"This is no longer just Felix Felicis, the lucky potion. It's a _bad_ luck potion. This is rare, and extremely dangerous to the drinker. The bad luck won't be just stubbing your toe or something mundane like that, but something possibly fatal or just horrible in general, such as the death of a family member, or failure in battle. Don't ask me how it works, it just does, and it's been in the Malfoy family recipes for generations, used against the worst of enemies. Keep this in storage, but make sure to keep a few protective spells on it, just in case," he said, pouring the bad luck potion into a new vial and corking it, then proceeding to label it using his wand.

"Wow," said Hermione, nearly speechless. Draco had looked so concentrated at his work, and so at ease. She hoped she could just do that, rather than having to memorize directions.

"Don't worry about mastering potions, I've been doing it since I could walk. You're a pretty fast learner, I think in these two months of summer, you'll be well ahead of _any_ Hogwart's, or even Durmstrang graduate," said Draco, reading the awed look in Hermione's golden eyes. Hermione basked in the praise.

"What happens when you add in a phoenix feather?" she enquired, staring at the orange-and-red feathers lying on the counter.

"Why don't you try? Just put in one feather," he said, stepping aside from the cauldrons.

Hermione waved her wand to ready a shield in case anything went wrong (also because Draco advised as such), and also used her wand to get the small phoenix feather out, and dropped it into the cauldron.

Just as soon as the phoenix met the liquid, the color went from a clear honey, to a shimmery, thick, gold. This time, it didn't revert back, it stayed the same.

"Now, Grang-Hermione, this is a highly illegal potion. This can give you the best of good luck there is. Felix Felicis isn't illegal in real life, just in games and other things like that, but this version of Felix Felicis, is illegal _just_ because of how _good_ and _potent_ this is. Phoenix feathers are _really_ rare, and like I said, they _really_ stabilize a potion and add more to its purpose, so be careful when you use it. I'll try to get some more soon, by the way."

"Listen, rather than memorizing directions, just memorize the effect of certain ingredients and certain motions and what they do to the potion. That way, making a potion will just become 2nd nature to you," added Draco, hoping that this tip would help Hermione, like it once did for Draco.

Hermione nodded furiously. If she had a notepad and a pencil, she'd most likely write this down, but alas, she did not, so this was more to add to her file cabinet of knowledge on potions.

Draco checked his watch, and whistled. "Wow, this took longer than I anticipated. Well, Hermione, I should get going, see you soon, I guess."

"Wait, how do I know you'll pop up?" Frankly, Hermione was tired of waiting for Draco to show up, she was not a patient person.

"I don't know Hermione, I really am sorry, but I'll explain it to you one day-"

"Explain. _Now_ , please, you've done a lot of explaining today, why don't you do some more?" glared Hermione.

Draco returned the glare head on, but replied, "Fine. You want to know the truth? You already know I'm on the dark side, but what you didn't know is that the Dark- _fucking-_ Lord lives under my roof, and if he were to get suspicious of what I do when I visit you, _you_ would die, after getting tortured, and then I would die as well. Are you happy, now?"

The truth of what Draco said hit Hermione straight in the face, and she felt sorry for pushing Draco. "Draco, I'm sorry! I didn't know - you know what!"

Draco looked at her outburst with a question in his eyes.

"Not only will I learn, I'm going to push myself to the limits! You should as well! If push comes to shove, don't you want to be ready to at least hit Lord Voldy with your best? Don't you want to go down with a blast?"

Draco didn't know whether to laugh at Hermione's enthusiasm, or let it wash over him as well. He settled on a smile. "I can try. Two heads _are_ better than one. Anyway, I really need to get going now. Use you owl, Hermione. Oh, I'll be taking Akita back with me today, I told mother I had to pick something up, might as well him. I promise to bring him back, I suppose," he said, calling for Akita.

"Yes, I'll owl. I just tell Midnight to take the letter to you, right? Nothing else, nothing big?"

"Yep, just remember to tell her to make sure she's not sighted. My aunt … has a tendency to just, well, _kill_ anything that moves, if she's feeling like it, so fair warning, you know," said Draco, sheepishly, grabbing onto Akita's leash as he came, walking to him.

"I swear, Malfoy, your family, I just - I don't even … just go, bye!" said Hermione, smiling and shaking her head, waving to Draco.

"Bye, Granger, see ya whenever!" he said, before disappearing in a _pop_.

* * *

When he arrived back at the Manor, he realized he never told Hermione about Dumbledore.

 _Better hold that thought for later, maybe at the end of our training sessions,_ thought Draco.

Akita barked beside him, as if letting Draco know that was the right idea. Draco petted the dog, and thought, _You're right, Akita. I really don't want her blowing me up._

* * *

 **AN:** Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another chapter! This is my new longest chapter, 4,400+ words, whew! I was surprised at how the words came pouring out, haha. This is also my favorite chapter, the action/dueling scene and the semi-flirting was _super_ fun to write!

I hope I'm not cramming things in or rushing things. The reason I try to pack so much stuff about the wizarding world in is because Hermione doesn't know about this stuff, and Draco's teaching her, so I'm trying to be realistic rather than having her just read everything, because something's, you need real world experience in, lol

Senja Katrinavitch is an OC of mine. I don't know if this is a real person, but if it is, quick disclaimer: not basing this OC based on any living or deceased person, animal, place, or thing. Just my brain. I figured Draco would need _someone,_ _something_ to pull him from his prejudiced beliefs, and who better than a person you regard as family?

Their Amortentia, you should be able to guess, I've placed clues in this chapter and the ones before. For example, the spicy part was mention near the end of Chapter Four.

 **Quick note on updates: _winter breaks is ending, so that means updates are now slower_ , **around once a week (or two, if I'm busy), especially these long chapters that I have a knack of writing, so sorry! My school is far from my place, so by the time I get home, its pretty late, and then all the HW that I have, projects, and another annoying things, so writing time is limited. But, I'll update whenever possible, and hopefully long chapters! Also, if you didn't know, I don't _abandon fics,_ ever. PM if you feel that I did, and I'll respond back as quickly as possible that I am not abandoning, just writers block or not enough time.

Also, for all the responses to "The Right Mistake" one-shot/drabble that I did, thank you! If I ever have time, maybe I'll continue it, but for now, it will just stay in one-shot/drabble format in " _A Collection of Silver and Gold"_.

Have a great day/night/whatever you're having,

 _Ess_

* * *

 ** _Reviews are Hermione's skill, Draco's matching abilities, and ACORNS! (so you can transfigure them into whatever, lol)_**


	7. Chapter Six

**Beautiful Darkness**

 _ **by EssTheDreamer**_

* * *

 *****Chapter Six*****

 **Of Cerberus and Crystal Futures**

* * *

Hermione was quietly working on her potions study. After last week, when Draco had shown her how different ingredients produces different potions, as well as different methods, she decided to test everything out. Potions was quickly

She had gotten far into her study, devoting entire days and nights to this project, save for the times when she read and practiced other things. When her mother asked her what she was doing, she said she was doing a scientific study on the effect of different substances and how they react to each other, going as far as to bring out her journal of findings. Of course, she had to glamour away parts where it said things like "potions," "wizards," and other things like that, but she left the ingredients, diagrams, and results on the page.

Her mother loved to hear that her daughter was taking initiative on her scientific goals even during the summer, as she'd had heard her co-workers complaining about rebellious teenagers that were constantly testing their nerve. Mrs. Granger even gave her permission to stay over at the library, with food, although she worried about her daughter's protection.

Hermione knew her mother had nothing to worry about; she had wards protecting this place, powerful ones, if Draco's indications by owl were enough, and she'd even put a spell of invisibility over it. She planned on hiding it even further using the Fidelius Charm, she wanted this safehouse to be what it was, a safehouse, for as long as possible.

As she was writing down how root of asphodel had both good and bad properties, as well as how it would steadily increase the lasting effects of a potion, she heard a ruffling in one of the adjacent rooms.

She paused her writing; how did someone get in? She'd set the wards, along with Draco, to make sure that they would be alerted anytime someone apparated in, even if it was they, themselves.

She dropped her pen, and slowly and soundlessly walked near the door of the room where the sound was coming from. She had her wand out, a _Petrificus Totalus_ at the tip of her tongue and ready to go.

At the sound of something crashing down, she jumped into the room, and she froze the moving object in the room.

"Akita? What are you - never mind," said Hermione, stopping as she realized she was talking to a dog. She removed the _Petrificus Totalus_ from the dog, and then noticed that the dog was shaking, and quite roughly, indeed.

Just then, as Hermione was making her way towards the dog, a flustered Draco popped into the room, and was immediately at the end of Hermione's wand; she had quickly adapted to popping out a wand whenever her brain felt it was necessary.

Draco frowned at her wand pointing at his face. "You know, you're getting too dependent on your wand. You're wandless magic will lose its power, if you concentrate all your magic into a stick," he said, kneeling on the floor and picking up the puppy, petting him.

Hermione rolled her eyes, and dropped her wand to the ground quite suddenly, splaying her fingers instead of gripping onto the vine stick. Much to Draco's surprise, she used a wandless charm to change his mussed up blond hair into being gelled back, almost, and to fix his ruffled clothing into such a state it looked as if his clothes had just been pressed and cleaned. She also summoned a mirror, and handed it to Draco, with a raised eyebrow, as if to challenge him into again saying she was losing her touch with her wandless magic.

"Wow. I look like I'm twelve again," he remarked, staring at his reflection and running his fingers through his hair to revert it into a natural, flawlessly imperfect state. "Fine, you've proved you're not dependent on your wand. I admit I'm wrong," said Draco, admitted grudgingly, passing the mirror back to Hermione.

Hermione laughed at Draco's pouty expression, and put the mirror on the potion's counter. Once she'd calmed her laughter, she remembered her original question. Pointing at Akita, she asked "How'd he manage to apparate here? And without either of us feeling that he'd apparated here?"

Draco sighed, running his fingers through his hair even more, making it messier, though it didn't look bad, though Hermione grudgingly. "I took him on a walk. It's quite suffocating at the manor - and - my aunt, she tried to torture him, and I'm telling you, it hurt like hell," he said, wincing at the memory.

"Hmm … is this the familiar bond at work?" asked the brunette, wondering how Draco felt Akita's pain

"I guess, but the familiar bond is only supposed to be a light connection. I guess Bellatrix - my aunt - applied a lot of magic and force on the _Crucio._ Anyway, Akita was shaking quite a bit, so I figured I'd cheer him up by taking him on a walk, to the muggle world. Then, this stupid muggle cat hissed at him while he was still getting adjusted to how he'd been tortured. He took off in a speed, and instead of continuing, he disappeared into thin air. I apparated everywhere I possibly could, until I came to check here," he said, rubbing his forehead with his fingers

"Wouldn't your familiar bond allow you to discern his location?" inquired Hermione.

"Yes, normally, but I think the crucio was too overwhelming for him, being a pup. I just didn't think _dogs_ could apparate or do magic, save for - crap," he said, muttering the last bit.

"What?" asked Hermione curiously.

"Descendants of Cerberus, it's an old myth. Hades loved Cerberus, so much that in case anything happened to him, he'd created six single-headed dogs, and changed their form. He'd supposedly given them magic, too, to survive rather than being hunted into extinction or harmed. I didn't think it was true, but that's the only explanation I can think of," he said, his brows furrowed, petting Akita and calming down the poor pup's shaking.

"First off, _protect_ Akita, don't toss him in some corner, Draco. Second off, send you aunt to a mental hospital, but if you can't, then show her that she shouldn't mess with _your familiar!"_ exclaimed Hermione. "Third, I don't think I've read anything of Hades creating descendants of Cerberus."

"Wizarding myths are different from muggle myths, most of the time." Draco sighed. "Since I'm here, I suppose I can show you another form of magic."

"Another form? Do you mean transfiguration, or just light or dark magic," she said, the gears of her brain already turning.

"No. It's … uh, called Divination, basically prophesies and guessing - I mean, _seeing_ the future."

Hermione snorted. "Ok, Draco, I've believed everything about the wizarding world so far, but, honestly, _Divination?_ It sounds like a bunch of donkey dung, truth be told."

Draco smiled and shook his head. "Believe it or not, while it may be utter rubbish at times, the prophesies happen. There might be layers upon layers of prophecies covering up the one true one, but there are such things."

"I will not believe it till I see it, Draco. I believe in creating my own future, not look at some foggy crystal ball and squinting at it to figure it out," she said, shaking her head.

"Hmph. I'll prove you wrong, at least _this_ one time. Wait here, I need to get some supplies from home," he said, gently dropping a much calmer Akita in her hands, and disappearing with a pop.

While Draco was gone, she picked up her wand and transfigured a chair into a comfy dog bed, and transfigured a cup into a bowl, and poured water into it. She put Akita down on to the bed, and patted his fur three times, before rubbing behind his ears.

"I'm sorry, little Akita, but I don't have any dog treats stocked. Next time, I promise I will," she said, deciding that if Akita was indeed a descendant of Cerebrus, he probably understood her as well. Akita had also seemed to stop the little bit of shaking that he had left, and was now peacefully curled up on the bed.

 _What kind of madwoman_ **tortures** _a defenseless puppy?,_ wondered Hermione. _She'll pay for this,_ she decided. Having been bullied all her life, Hermione had a knack of trying to defend the innocent, even if she herself acted a bit harshly and darkly.

While Draco was still gone, she cleaned up the table in the potions room, moving all of her materials to the counter so that they could do "Divination" there rather than a spot on the floor.

While she was cleaning up her potions materials and storing them away, Draco showed up.

"Sorry I'm so late. Had to do some digging around my room, Durmstrang doesn't care for Divination," he said, placing numerous things on the table.

"I wish I could go to Durmstrang," said Hermione, not sure how she would function at a school where she was to learn things that seemed foolish to her.

"No, you don't. Durmstrang students are practically all descendants of psychotic families, all of whom have the ability to background check you and then ruin your life if you have even a speck of muggle blood in your line. I've been the butt of many jokes for my half-blood cousin, Hermione, and if they found out your mum is a muggle, they'd burn you alive," he said, seriously.

"Hm. They'd make good allies, then," she said. At Draco's raised eyebrows, she said, "Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer. Standard rule of life, Draco. The faster you learn it, the better."

Draco smirked. "Slytherin for sure. Though we do say 'make allies of your enemies and followers of your friends'," he said, thinking of a brief lunch date on which he'd gone on before meeting Hermione to meet fellow Hogwarts students, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott.

"I'd like to be in Slytherin. Cunning, knowledge and ambition, what else could a person want?"

"Actually, I think being a Slytherin dressed in Gryffindor colors would be better. That way, you'd be Slytherin in that you're hiding, waiting to surprise everyone with your skills. You'd need Gryffindor courage to do that in the first place. I think you'd be a better fit for Gryffindor, you've got enough bravery to fuel your cunning and ambition."

"Yes, well, we can get to that later. I'd rather learn about what a _delight_ Divination is, you know?" she said, with a playful smirk and a sarcastic drawl.

"I always knew you'd be a Seer, complete with the wonky glasses and frizzy hair," he replied with a serious expression, though his lips seemed to at a struggle of whether to maintain a neutral expression, or just let his smirk out. He pulled on a curly strand of Hermione's hair, to which Hermione slapped his hand off and ruined his hair by ruffling it all back.

"Oh, sweetheart, don't do that. I look like a pointy elf, and I'd rather not," he said smoothing his hair back, fake-pouting at Hermione.

"Then don't pull my hair, _sweetheart,"_ she said, using and emphasizing one of his nicknames for herm tilting her hair.

"Truce, I suppose," said Draco, sticking out his hand. Hermione put her hand in his, and he squeezed her hand, as if it was a way to make the truce more permanent. She squeezed back.

Draco looked away from Hermione's dark brown eyes, and focused on the crystal ball, and motioned to Hermione to sit down, as well.

"You've got to look into a crystal ball, unless you're blessed with natural Seer powers, who just get visions out of nowhere. Don't force the vision out, just stare calmly at it, and depending on the emotions and importance of the future, you'll see it in different ways," he said, staring at the swirling clouds inside the ball.

Hermione was still skeptical, she still didn't believe in the powers of Divination. Her mother was obsessed with fortune cookies and horoscopes, thought Hermione was wary of it.

She looked at what Draco was doing. He, funnily enough, was looking bored. Thinking that she should at least try, she sat down and grabbed the crystal ball.

She didn't feel anything special, didn't feel as if the future was in her hands. She let go of her forceful hold on the ball, and instead, started at the ball, just as bored as Draco. She squinted and widened her eyes, wondering if that would do something.

Nothing, just gray smoke. Again looking at Draco, she noticed that he, too, was staring at the crystal ball, frustration evident in his eyes, and a little adorable crease between his eyebrows.

Smiling to herself, she once again reached out to the ball, and wiped what looked like a blemish from the crystal ball.

When she touched it, she felt a brief electric shock at her fingertips, and let out a yelp.

The last thing she heard was Draco's voice asking her what's wrong, and his mercurial eyes glowing as she let the darkness take her.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Ok, before anything else, I am so so sorry! This chapter is late, but with finals coming up and teachers squeezing in as many projects and tests as possible before the end of this semester and before finals, it's been hectic, and will probably continue. For this reason, I am going to give up my update schedule until life gets a hold of itself, so **updates will be whenever I have a fully edited chapter to post that I am proud (or close to it) of.**

I don't know how I feel about this chapter. It was more of a filler chapter, and more of a chapter to just show you glimpses of Hermione's learning. Also, if you can't tell by now, most of the stuff that Hermione's learning is stuff that I've made up/added onto what J.K. Rowling wrote, since we didn't go into too much detail with the education bit.

Some of you might think I'm putting in a lot of detail, but everything they talk about, see, or do, is going to come back at some time as something important in the plot. It's one of my favorite things to do when storytelling/story-writing, bringing up something as a small, miniscule detail, but later transforming it into something important, or near it!

Also, sorrynotsorry for the cliffhanger! **;)**

Oh, if you've noticed, I'm not just EssTheWriter anymore, I'm EssTheDreamer! I figured that since I have a multitude of hobbies, I shouldn't limit my username to one task! My tumblr name has also changed from EssTheWriter to EssTheDreamer, so if you're not following or you are, then now you know! :D

Thank you all for following and favoriting, as well as reviewing! I read every single one of them, although I do not have the time to reply, I _do_ read them! Also, thank you for still reading even though it's been such a long time since an update.

Au revoir,

 _Ess_

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 ** _Reviews are the ability to un-fog your future, see through a crystal ball, and a happy Akita! :D_**


	8. Chapter Seven

**Beautiful Darkness**

 _ **by EssTheDreamer**_

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 *****Chapter Seven*****

 **Of Screams and Green Lights**

* * *

Hermione awoke with a scream on the tip of her tongue and a green light burned onto her retina.

"Hermione! Are you okay? What did you see?" asked Draco, who was looking at her worriedly. He had rushed to her screaming self and was now sitting at the edge of the sofa, where Hermione was lying down.

"I … I, oh! I don't know," said Hermione, panting, as if she had just ran a marathon. She could _see_ and _remember_ everything that had happened, but when she tried to grasp for it, it just - _left_ her.

She pushed her hair back from her face and discovered that her face and hair was sticky with sweat and hot with heat. _What happened?_

"What happened?" she said, echoing her own thoughts, her voice shaky. What she saw, she couldn't pin down, but whatever she had felt, it _hurt._ It made her feel on edge, as if everything could go wrong with one word, one spell, one event.

"I really don't know. I could say you've had a vision, but … vision's don't work like that. You don't just crumple to the ground, you stay awake. It's not a prophecy, either, or else I would've heard it," he said, his eyes staring at some point in the air, going through all possible scenarios in his head, his brows furrowing deeper within themselves as he thought more about what could have just occurred.

"Can you try, just a bit, to tell me what you saw?" he asked, focusing on Hermione again, putting on hand on her shoulder, hoping it would give her comfort. Draco was never good at comfort, but he decided it couldn't hurt to try.

"I … I, I'm trying, but I don't even know what _I_ saw. All I know, was that I felt like screaming, but for what, I don't know," the brunette said, scouring through her head.

"Are you sure that's all there is?"

"I think so. I mean, there could be more but - WAIT! I remember," she said looking around the room, as if it could help her piece together everything. "I remember a green light, shooting straight at me, and exploding in the … room. I think it was a dark green room, sort of like a ballroom, with a very ornate chandelier." That seemed to be the only thing Hermione could see in detail, the room, just the room, with nothing in it but her and a green light. She couldn't help but over analyze every detail that she could gather from the freeze-frame scene stuck in her head. _Do all rooms have ornate panelling like that? Is my head making up the smell of rain?_

"A green light? Was there any specific, I don't know, word? Before the light?" said Draco, interrupting her train wreck thoughts.

"I told you, I don't know," she said, exasperatedly.

"What about the people? Anyone else, other than you?"

"I don't know!" screamed Hermione, losing control of her magic, making all the items in the room float and rattle violently. It was just like those times before, when her magic went to uncontrollable extremes.

Draco watched everything float and shake around him, and squeezed the hand on her shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't worry, Hermione. I'm sure everything'll sort out eventually."

Taking a deep breath, Hermione calmed down her breathing. "You're right. I shouldn't fret over something as changeable as the future."

"Of course I'm right. I'm always right," said Draco, jokingly, hoping to restore the carefree mood before Hermione fainted to the ground.

Hermione smiled, but she still didn't feel right. She felt as if everything from here on now would only get worse.

Draco sensed something was going wrong, so he offered his hand to her. She took his hand, and Draco squeezed her hand comfortingly.

 _If anything goes wrong, at least I've got Draco._

* * *

 **AN:**

It's been a while.

A really long while. But, I've got two chapters for today, so yay! This is a bit short, but the next is decently long, and the AN there is also longer, so keep on reading! :D

Tood-ely-doo and till next time,

 _Ess_

* * *

 _ **Reviews are yummy treats, explosions of sweet, and really neat! :D**_


	9. Chapter Eight

**Beautiful Darkness**

 _ **by EssTheDreamer**_

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 *****Chapter Eight*****

 **Of Questions and Surprises**

* * *

Hermione and Draco's training sessions had soon sped up, and before they knew it, June passed onto July, and July passed onto August. The summer months had passed by, and with each passing day, Hermione had more knowledge ingrained in her head than the average 5th-going-on-to-6th-year Hogwart's student, and her anxiety levels for the end of summer and the end of their tutoring sessions grew as well.

Near one of their final days, they had just finished making making the final few potions that she was required to know, as well as some handy (and dark) potions that she should know just in case, taken from the "secret" Malfoy family recipes.

Hermione labelled each vial by pressing the tip of her wand to each glass covering, while Draco stared at her, tapping his fingers on the counters in a rhythmic pattern.

"You know, Hermione, summer's almost over. You know what that means, right?"

Hermione nodded, and tapped the final vial, labelling it as _Polyjuice Potion_. "You said you'd go to one of my favorite muggle places at the end of summer, when our training sessions were over!"

"I did," he said slowly, as if he still couldn't believe that he'd done that. "But our sessions are not over till you've gotten a letter to Hogwarts."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Of course, Draco, but remember, after all of this, you've _got_ to come with me!"

"I promised, didn't I? A Malfoy never breaks one of their promises," he said, with a cocky smirk.

"Of course, of course," she said, this time putting their potions books back into their spot on the shelves, leaving the Potion's room to go to the shelves and place the books away.

 _This is my last chance to tell her, while she's still in a good mood. I should tell her,_ thinks Draco, steeling up his courage to tell her. While Hermione was away, Draco used his nervous energy to put the vials of the new potions away.

When Hermione came back, the first thing she noticed was the nervous look on Draco's face. Brows furrowed, she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I know why you've not gotten your Hogwart's letter!" Draco blurted, loud and quick, before turning away from Hermione's direction.

"What?" asked Hermione, not hearing his blurted words the first time. She had a slight idea that it was about her Hogwarts letter, but didn't think it was what he was worried about, as it wouldn't be something Draco would be worried about.

"I know why you've not gotten your Hogwart's letter," he said, this time, a little slower, more calm.

"Oh? And why was that?" asked Hermione, wondering why Draco was still so nervous.

Draco reached into his pocket, and pulled out a tiny little book. He then wordlessly enlarged the book, before flipping to a specific page, and passing it onto Hermione, all without a single word.

Hermione's quick eyes read over the pages, a frown growing on her mouth. After she finished reading, she turned to Draco.

"So, what you're tell me is that some old coot followed me around when I was young, and decided I was too powerful? Then he decides to let me stay in the muggle world, whilst my powers continue to grow?"

"Well, if you put it that way, uh, yeah, that's what happened."

"Huh," she said, squinting her eyes, going back to staring at the book. "I _really_ didn't think that this would be the reason why. Maybe if they decided muggleborns were hazardous, or they could potentially reveal everything to the muggle world because of prior loyalties, but not _this_. If I really have enough power as Voldemort did, why not play nice and convert me to their views?"

Turning to Draco again, she asked, "When did you find this out?"

He smiled sheepishly, and said, "See, here's the funny thing. I found this out a couple months ago, you know, and I _was_ going to show it to you earlier, but, uh, yeah, we just got _so_ busy training, I thought it would be okay to, you know, wait a while."

Hermione raised her eyebrow at the stuttering Draco. For someone who kept his cool nearly all the time, it was unusual and entertaining at the same time to see him so nervous and worried.

"Oh, Draco, don't be nervous. I'm not … mad, really. Maybe a little pissed off, at Dumbledore, but, I'm _this_ close to _finally_ joining the wizarding world. What's an old man going to do to stop me? Obliviate me? You've taught me Occlumency, and I think I can handle that."

Draco frowned at Hermione's solid belief in the power of Occlumency, which he' taught to her in the middle of July, along with Legilimency. "Hermione, you never know when a spell can backfire on you, no matter how skilled you are at it. Occlumency is extremely hard to master. I've been taught since I was practically born, all purebloods are, and even then, I'm sure a skilled wizard could find a crack or two in my shields."

"Sure, but you _know_ I'm better at everything than you," she joked, her eyes sparkling.

"If that's what you'd like to believe," said Draco, shrugging nonchalantly on the outside, though his eyes returned the joke.

Shaking her head slightly, she asked, "You never told me this, but how does Occlumency work? Do you keep your shield up slightly all the time, and just mega power it when you sense danger?"

"Pretty much that, at least for me. I've always got a slight shield on my mind, with simple memories to hide any incriminating ones. But that's beside the point. Summer's ending soon, and Hogwart's letters are soon going out to anyone remaining."

"So what's the plan?" asked Hermione. She knew Draco had some sort of a plan to meet his parent's and some of their friends, due to them having a slight pull in the Wizarding World, but he never went into too much detail, choosing to focus on the topics she had to learn.

Draco smirked, as if he could just see her reaction to his next words. "You've got to attend a ball."

" _What?_ "

* * *

 **AN:**

Hehehehehe, another teensy-weensy cliffie. Don't worry, lovely reader's, this is not much of a major cliffhanger, so you won't be fretting and sweating, just curious.

Now, the reason why Chapter 7 and this one, 8, is kind of late. When I sat down to write, I had originally planned to show you what Hermione saw, in her vision of sorts. But, when writing it, the snippets were very short, and they revealed too much of my future plans, some which I wasn't sure I was going to carry through anyway. So, I deleted all of that, and then came the writer's block. I basically wandered around IRL trying to think of an idea, and when I got one, which wasn't a chapter idea, but rather, adding onto the structure of my story. Then, while re-reading my summary for this story, I thought of a sentence which basically led to my writer's block disappearing, and here comes these chapters! I didn't know how I would go on describing the learning process without too much canon information, so I decided to do a tiny time skip in this chapter.

I think some of you may foresee everything that's coming, because I hinted heavily in Chapter 7, with some in Chapter 8. Also, in case any of you were wondering why Hermione's reaction to Dumbledore doing as such is not … angry, but rather, analytical, I tried to go with canon!Hermione, because I couldn't decide which way to go. canon!Hermione would probably analyze everything and come up with a bajillion questions for every action, which I put in. However, this Hermione, in this story with this backstory, also has a _very_ strong ability to hold a grudge, and act her revenge out later, so this plot point won't be fading into the shadow's anytime soon!

*looks back at long AN* I should be the Queen of Long Author's Notes, lol. I'm sorry if my Author's Notes are terribly long, I just have a lot to say, haha! I would say you can disregard them, but I _do_ put important information every now and then, and I also explain why I wrote something a specific way, so your questions may be answered here, so please, stick through, if you can.

Also, if you (amazing and lovely) people notice any errors or misspellings or just writing tips, or tips in general, PM or review! :D

Thanks for being such amazing readers and sticking through this long, and thanks to all those who review (they make not just my day, but my week!),

 _Ess_

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 ** _Reviews are warmth during a cold day, an umbrella to shield the rain, and a smile to chase away a frown! :D_**


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